Quotes of the day

posted at 10:41 pm on March 13, 2014 by Allahpundit

For months and months, for example, I’ve been demanding facts — not shibboleths or epithets — from the anti-Mitch McConnell brigade…

For more than a decade, Sen. Mitch McConnell has stood alone in fighting unconstitutional campaign finance laws, earning him the undying enmity of The New York Times…

As minority leader, McConnell managed to get every single Republican in the Senate to vote against Obamacare — even “Strange New Respect” Republicans like John McCain, Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham. No other Republican leader has ever accomplished anything like that…

McConnell tricked Obama into accepting the only spending cuts to the federal government in more than half a century…

On the most important issue — immigration — McConnell not only voted against Marco Rubio’s amnesty bill, but at the moment, he may be the only thing standing between us and a scheme to import 30 million new Democratic voters. As House Speaker John Boehner works feverishly behind the scenes to push amnesty through, McConnell recently announced that there would be no immigration bill in 2014 (thank almighty God)…

Here’s the counter-argument from the anti-McConnell crowd: HE’S A RINO! HE’S AN ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICAN! HE’S BEEN A TERRIBLE LEADER! MITCH LIED, KIDS DIED!

Ladies and Gentlemen, there you have all the attributes of a mob: Slogans in lieu of logic and evidence, beliefs impenetrable by facts, emotional hatred of the “enemy” and the acceptance of wild contradictions. Isn’t Paul Ryan dreamy? Let’s run Ted Cruz for president! We love Reagan … But we hate McConnell for voting with Reagan!

Nothing good has ever been accomplished by a mob.

***

Finally, while I appreciate the review of Mitch McConnell’s legislative record, there’s that other record that is less convenient. No, no, not the multiple votes to increase the debt ceiling. No, not the multiple votes that funded Obamacare. No, not McConnell’s vote opposing returning power to the states to control their own highway programs. No, I’m not even referring to Mitch McConnell’s vote to send the Senate’s amnesty plan to the floor of the Senate for consideration — something he could have rallied his side to oppose through a filibuster.

Instead, I’m talking about the candidates McConnell has supported instead of the conservatives.

Would Ann have preferred Trey Grayson over Rand Paul? Grayson is now working with an anti-gun Democratic super PAC to elect Democrats. Mitch McConnell supported Trey Grayson.

Would Ann have preferred Charlie Crist over Rubio? She and I certainly did not like Rubio’s immigration plan — the one McConnell voted to get out of committee to the floor of the Senate. But would she have preferred Charlie Crist, who was and remains to the left of Rubio on the issue? Mitch McConnell supported Charlie Crist.

Would Ann have preferred Arlen Specter to Pat Toomey like Mitch McConnell did?

What about David Dewhurst over Ted Cruz?

What about Bob Bennett? Does Ann think conservatives, led by the Senate Conservatives Fund, should have left in the Senate the Republican who helped author the federal individual mandate that went into Obamacare? His replacement was Mike Lee. Would Ann really join Mitch McConnell wanting to keep Bob Bennett in the Senate over Mike Lee…

Mr. McConnell is not only an incumbent senator who represents the party opposed to the White House in a midterm election, but he also comes from a state that opposes the president. Since 1956, only seven senators in these circumstances have lost re-election. The last time was in 1998, when John Edwards defeated Senator Lauch Faircloth in North Carolina.

But 2014 is not 1998. Back then, President Bill Clinton’s approval rating was in the mid-60s. Today, President Obama’s ratings are mired in the low 40s. Kentucky is also not North Carolina, which only narrowly voted against Mr. Clinton. Kentucky is an extremely favorable state for a Republican candidate: It voted for Romney and McCain by an average of 25 points to the right of the country.

Campaigns tend to move partisans toward their respective corners. Campaign advertisements, messages, and even gaffes, emphasize the ideological differences between the candidates and polarize voters along party lines. Mr. McConnell will spend the next eight months reminding voters that he’s the president’s most reliable adversary, and that control of the Senate is at stake. That message seems likely to resonate with Kentucky’s anti-Obama electorate.

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LOL – long time no see. Squish? Maybe. But what is the point of slamming dem policies at a site where most people despise them. Kind of redundant. The GOP has lost its ability to be strategic — the whole lot of us have some ownership of that, whether identifying as TP or as establishment. It cost us control of the senate in 12.

Bradky on March 14, 2014 at 8:23 AM

Cheers to you, B. Yes, yes…preaching to the choir is not for you. Better to stir the pot for sport and be called a Squish, hmmm? Have you not noticed that this group of nearly unanimous “far right” conservatives finds plenty to bicker over every day?

As for ’12, I disagree. How, precisely, did the Tea Party cause North Dakota voters to elect a liberal? North Dakota is slathered with adoration, money, and opportunity of every kind by Republicans of every kind and despised by liberals … and they elected Heidi Heil-kampf.

Montana re-elected a liberal against an establishment GOPer.
Wisconsin elected a socialist lesbian over one of your RINOs.
Missouri re-elected a retard over Akin – sure, blame that on us because he comes up with some idiotic voodoo about rape pregnancy.
Indiana elects a pro-abortion Catholic because he went to Notre Dame? Not. My. Fault.
Connie Mack, Josh Mandel, Pete Hoekstra, George Allen – Not.Tea.Party.Guys.
Scott Brown can’t beat Fauxcahontas?! He’s exactly what MAss libs always claim the GOP isn’t – “moderate”. He lost to a capital-S Socialist.

Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin are not why the GOP failed to take over the Senate, B.